Cultural Zone Praça da Estação, Belo Horizonte: conflicts among the State-Capital gentrification’ strategies and anti-gentrification tactics of urban movements networks

Abstract

The word that sustained the project within the Station Square’s Cultural Corridor, suggested for Belo Horizonte's central zone in 2013, is that the central region is degraded and it needs to be restored to gain a new life, attracting new residents, visitors and investments as a consequence. The increase of empty spaces over the years and the abandonment are fundamental when justifying new investments, while hiding the gentrification process, a logic of urbanization reported countless times by Neil Smith (1979; 2006), a Geography scholar. In Belo Horizonte's case, there's an unfolding dispute between neoliberal urbanism and the network of militants and activists. On one hand, some investors took advantage of the devaluation in real estate prices and purchased various properties - which after the revitalization - will increase their value. On the other hand, the network of activist movements was able to change the course of the “Station Square’s Cultural Corridor” project, claiming that there was already life and culture in that region, launching a campaign called “O corredor cultura já existe!” (The cultural corridor already exists!). The Indisciplinar research group takes active part in cataloging the territorial struggles between major urban projects, proposed by the State, and the city's network of resistance. Acting as another node in this network to identify the complex blind-spots where neoliberal urbanism is involved, considering its different scales. In recent years, the group's researchers are acting within different fronts; contributing both on producing basic and translated information to feed the social movements involved in the network, as well as acting institutionally, for example, composing the Cultural Zone Council, created to produce a master plan with guidelines for the central area.